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Transform Now Plowshares!

The July 28th Transform Now Plowshares action at the Y-12 facility has created quite a stir in the corporate press. We hope to change the dialogue from one of security of nuclear weapons facilities to one of how nuclear weapons make the world insecure. Click here to check out the Transform Now Plowshares Website.

After denouncing Bonnie Urfer as a “prolific criminal,” Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton handed down the maximum sentence allowed under federal sentencing guidelines—eight months in prison—in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee. Urfer’s crime was a Class A Misdemeanor Trespass—she crossed on to the property of the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in July 2010 to protest the continuing production of thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction at Y12.

Unlike the sentencing hearings of Bill Bichsel and Jean Gump on Monday, the prosecutor made no recommendation to the judge, apparently content to let Bonnie’s time served stand as a sentence; the sentencing guidelines derived from Bonnie’s “criminal” history established a sentencing range of 2-8 months.

The only moment of levity in the proceedings came when Bonnie rose for her elocution. “Raise your right hand,” the court officer said, preparing to swear Bonnie in. Bonnie failed to comply, her hands shackled to the chain around her waist.

Bonnie eloquently spoke about the conditions she found in prison, telling the judge, “We need people in jail to tell the truth,” and cited conditions of refusal to provide medical care, the exorbitant expenses for phone calls and commissary, and the unhealthy diet provided inmates. “Do I protest the crimes taking place in the jail,” she asked, “or the crimes outside the jail?”

She told the judge she disagreed with his ruling during the trial that nuclear weapons pose no imminent harm. “I have met people in jail who have lost family members and suffered illness due to the work they did at Y12. The government will pay them $150,000 for a life, if they can prove their sickness came from Y12. How many deaths will it take to convince the court that harm is imminent? How many deaths will it take for the court to name it a crime? For me, it takes one.”

Bonnie ended her elocution with a promise. “If I’m returned to jail, I will work to expose more crimes,” she said. “If I’m set free, I’ll work to expose more crimes. It’s your decision.”

After Bonnie’s lawyer filed the latest copy of the petition calling for the release of the Y12 Resisters, now with 870 signatures, the judge handed down the sentence. “The court finds you are a prolific criminal,” he said, noting her more than 50 convictions for trespass on federal property and other arrests of unknown disposition. “You are not deterred by sentences, and you have regularly informed courts that you will not comply with terms of supervised release and your actions have validated that promise. You most likely will not stop. So the only way to insure you will not continue this behavior that has become your routine, if you will, is to separate you from the community.” He then sentenced Bonnie to eight months, with credit for time served (4 months and 3 days), no probation, and no fine. The sentence was to serve as an adequate deterrence and a just punishment, Guyton said.

NEWS FLASH!!! (Updated May 26th)

Steve Kelly is out of the hoosegow!!! He was released on May 24th.

Steve Kelly was arrested by Santa Clara Police in front of the Lockheed Martin missile plant during the recent Good Friday vigil there. He was held to be picked up by Federal Marshals to begin serving time for parole violation from his Disarm Now Plowshares sentence. He was transferred by federal marshals on April 16th to the Alameda County Jail in Oakland (aka the Glenn Dyer Detention Center).Steve then took the scenic route to the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, and then to SeaTac Federal Detention Center. On May 20th Steve appeared before Judge Benjamin Settle, who gave him 60 days with time served. He served that time at SeaTac and was released on May 24th.

Updates on the whereabouts of other imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war resisters can be found atThe Nuclear Resister